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The Raven was an unarmed space shuttle. It was designed to transport cargo to Moon Base Luna, Space Station Liberty and various deep space colonies. Their layout reflected these simple design goals. They were designed for rapid production and as such have a questionable reliability. Like with the old pre-war shuttles, the Raven was launched vertically from a platform. The design mounts a cockpit up front, a small cargo bay behind that, closed by a full-length hinged door, and six main engines mounted at the stern. Two delta wings are mounted at the rear, and two tails spring from the corners of the box-like fuselage. The Raven uses a liquid fuel tank package attached to the underside to provide sufficient reaction mass for long trips, thus increasing its delta-v by 6 kps.

The shuttles require their detachable fuel tank to launch if they are fully loaded, even if a high atmospheric altitude is their destination.

The Southern Cross Aerospace Command had the need to replace the aging Tiger's Eye and Cat's Eye AWACS. Due to budgetary constraints due to the focusing on rebuilding the combat forces in the wake of the departure of the REF, the Raven shuttle was selected as it provided a common platform to replace both roles, thereby cutting costs. In space, it was almost always equipped with the external fuel tank to maximize its operating radius.

During the war with the Robotech Masters, these simple cargo shuttles were rapidly built and modified to carry mecha into combat. These craft have very few amenities and the mecha pilots have to ride within their mecha, as the mecha are tightly packed within the cargo bay. These craft proved no match for the far more powerful Assault Carriers and larger ships and most were destroyed in the repeated offensives against the Robotech Master Motherships.

The Eyrie EWACS was used extensively by the Tactical Space Corps and Tactical Air Force for patrolling duties. The Eyrie were used extensively to guard Earth against rogue Zentraedi on Earth and in system. An Eyrie was the vessel to make first contact with the Robotech Masters forces as one was dispatched to investigate sensor anomalies from Space Station Liberty. The ship never reported back and was assumed lost. The Masters' Assault Carriers made short work of the TAF Eyries. Those few that survived the war were mostly destroyed by the Invid Invasion.